After

[Note: If you haven't yet read "My Story: How Raw Foods and Live Green Smoothies Changed My Life", I invite you to do so before checking these pictures out, to put everything in context. Also, see "Photos: Before Going Raw" to see my delightful starting point!]

I started my Raw Foods Experience in April of 2005 a size 18/20, and by November 2005 the predominant size in my closet was a 6! I’ve basically remained in the size-6 zone since then, with some slight fluctuation to 8 and 4 depending on how high my raw foods intake is and how strenuously I’ve been training physically.

The earliest photograph I have of myself after losing this weight is from a dance showcase I did in January 2006 — I’m going to see if I can do a freeze-frame capture from the video of the showcase to show that photo here. Other than that, I just don’t have anything of myself until the end of 2006 because up until I started dancing I was hardly ever photographed. The life of a single mum, I guess… always the one behind the camera, never in front!

Here I am in December 2006, still a size 6.

I began having a little fun with my hair color, to go along with my new physique.

Here are a few other photos since the Transformation:

Super Bowl Sunday, January 2007

That same month, at my first ballroom dance competition.

My third competition, in April 2007.

Doing a dance showcase in June of 2007. I had just turned 43.

And (back to my natural hair color) this past year in 2008… very heavily into ballroom competition:

(I’ll work on getting some larger photos posted here. Am still navigating the technical aspects of setting these things up)

And my most recent photo from last November 2008, where I tied for 6th in Quickstep at the Ohio Star Ball.